China's organization and governance of innovation – A policy foresight perspective

Abstract

We study China's organization and governance of innovation in this paper from a policy foresight perspective. With its experience of planning systems, China resorts to state intervention in economic and social activities, which profoundly includes research and innovation. The government organizes and governs a vast national science and technology system, most of which is in the state sector, demonstrating the importance and relevance of its research and innovation policy. In this study, 343 innovation policy items, collected in our sample for the period 1990 and 2013, have been scrutinized in a three dimension analytical framework for policy instruments, objectives and implementation. We then abstract and conceptualize the results and findings arrived at the study. Targeted and general purpose policy instruments are categorized. Patterns have emerged revealing the linkages between the targeted policy instruments and the policy objectives. The results and findings based conceptualization contributes to innovate the thinking in innovation policy configuration to advance national innovation constructs.